WUHAN: Two officials present when a colleague was stabbed and killed by a woman claiming to be defending herself against a sexual assault have been fired.

Huang Dezhi, 41, was sacked from the post of vice-director of the office of business delegations of Yesanguan township, Hubei province, the local government said yesterday.

He was also deprived of his Party membership, as he had "pushed, shoved and verbally insulted a waitress who refused to accompany them to take a bath" in a bathhouse on May 10 in Badong, the authorities said.